Dog Grooming for a Straight-Haired Poodle

Poodles that are still puppies or are cross-bred can have straight hair with a little curl around the ears, eyes and feet. The easiest way to keep your straight-haired poodle groomed is to give it a short body cut, trimming the straight curls between the feet and ears with scissors.

  1. Puppy Cut

    • Giving a younger poodle a traditional poodle cut is difficult, because its curly hair doesn't come in until the puppy is about 9 months old. Pet owners often decide to give poodles younger than this a puppy cut, leaving the hair approximately an inch long all around the body. Perform most of this cut using dog-hair scissors. Straight haired poodles usually have straight wavy overcoats with fine curly undercoats, which can look straggly, especially when the curls grow between the toes. Trim these out with the scissors. To keep the poodle looking his best with this cut, perform the cut every four to six weeks.

    Multi-poos

    • Poodles that are a mix with another small dog such as a cocker spaniel tend to have a straight coat with some curling on the legs and ears. The straight, heavy hair may resemble the other breed more than the poodle, making it difficult to give the dog a typical poodle look. In this case, you may be better off clipping the dog similarly to that breed.

    Short Clip

    • If you don't have a lot of practice with hair scissors, you may want to use a short clipper cut. Attach an 4F blade to a clipper and run it over the poodle's body. Glide the clippers over the poodle's coat without applying any pressure.This gives a very short cut but is practical, because it keeps the dog's hair from matting or tangling.

    Combination

    • Poodle cuts are cute because you can make head pom-poms and dress the dog's hair in ribbons. Although you may not get a pom-pom 'do with a straight-haired poodle, you can leave the hair on the top of its head a little longer so you can tie it up with ribbons. This will give your poodle a cute look, but also will keep hair out of its eyes, and you won't have to worry about cutting too close to the eye area.